79-861. Professional Practices Commission; members; appointment; qualifications; terms; compensation; expenses; meetings; chairperson; quorum.

(1) The Governor shall appoint a Professional Practices Commission of twelve members nominated by the teaching profession and existing teachers professional organizations. Members shall be representative of elementary classroom teachers, secondary classroom teachers, school administrators, and postsecondary education. Members shall be appointed for staggered terms of three years. No member may succeed himself or herself more than once. Members shall be reimbursed for expenses as provided in sections 81-1174 to 81-1177. Compensation of members who are public employees shall not be reduced by the agency or body by which they are regularly employed for any absence from service occasioned by attendance upon the business of the commission or any panel, committee, or subcommittee of the commission. Each school district which employs a member of the commission and which is required to employ a person to replace such member during his or her attendance at meetings of the commission or any panel, committee, or subcommittee of the commission shall be reimbursed from the Professional Practices Commission Fund for the expense the district incurs from employing a replacement.

(2) The members of the commission shall elect a chairperson pursuant to the working rules of the commission. The chairperson shall call meetings of the commission, preside at all meetings of the commission en banc, assign the work of the commission to the members, and perform such other supervisory duties as required.

(3) A majority of the commission members shall constitute a quorum to transact business. A hearing panel of not less than seven commission members shall hear cases brought before the commission. Members of the hearing panel shall be assigned on a rotating basis. For purposes of hearings, the act or decision of a majority of the commission members sitting on the hearing panel shall in all cases be deemed the final act or decision of the commission.

Source:Laws 1967, c. 549, § 2, p. 1813; Laws 1973, LB 321, § 1; Laws 1977, LB 540, § 2; Laws 1981, LB 204, § 158; Laws 1993, LB 348, § 31; R.S.1943, (1994), § 79-1281; Laws 1996, LB 900, § 486; Laws 2020, LB381, § 92.